Sure you may use these equations every day, but have you ever given thought to the personal lives of the great minds who conceived them? Once upon a time these people were lowly students just like us. Here we bring you a few quick facts about some of our forefathers in science and their personal struggles in a world not yet going their speed. Sometimes funny, sometimes tragic, it sure was one heck of a ride!
Bernoulli: Math ran in the family
Making big leaps in science and math can seem like a venture in chance, but for some it runs in the family, and boy can it ever get competitive! If you have ever taken a fluids course you may be familiar with Bernoulli’s equation. This formula was conceived by Daniel Bernoulli and published in his book Hydrodynamica where he discussed, among other things, hydrodynamics, a term he invented. He was the son of one of the early developers of Calculus, Johann Bernoulli (keep in mind, this is the 1700’s), and nephew of Jacob Bernoulli who was a forerunner in the discovery of the theory of probability. Things soured between father and son in 1934 when both submitted entries for the Grand Prize of the Paris Academy. The two were declared joint winners and Daniel, then 34, was subsequently banned from his father’s home! Relations between the two were strained from that point on, all because of a science contest!
Jacques Monod: War time resistance leader, peacetime Nobel winner
When World War II arose, Jacques Monod was a lowly Paris scientist struggling with deciding his research goals. As war threatened his home, Jacques fought back as a part of the French resistance. Eventually he rose to the top, becoming the chief of staff for the French Forces of the Interior, a group that undermined the German invaders in any way they could. He continued his scientific efforts after the war, helping scientists in communist countries. In 1965, Monod, along with Francois Jacob and Andre Lwoff, won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their work in gene expression. Their research resulted in the transcription model for DNA, which is generally accepted today.
Leonhard Euler: Blindness only increased his productivity
A fast friend of Daniel Bernoulli, Leonhard Euler made leaps and bounds of progress in fields such as mathematics, mechanics, fluid dynamics, optics, astronomy and music theory. He won the Grand Prize of the Paris Academy; not once, not twice, but 12 times! However, in 1938, at the age of 31 he lost most of the sight in his right eye. Sometime later, in 1966, a cataract in his left eye was discovered leading quickly to complete blindness. However, instead of slowing or even stopping his research this event caused him to turn out even more papers than ever before with the help of scribes. Euler had an incredibly good memory and was able to do vast calculations in his mind, releasing an average of one mathematical paper a week in 1775.
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